- Alternative use: the Aten asteroid
The Aten asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids, named after the first of the group to be discovered . They are defined by having semi-major axes of less than one astronomical unit...
s, named after 2062 Aten2062 Aten is an asteroid that was discovered at the Palomar Mountain Observatory by Eleanor F. Helin, who is now the principal scientist for the NEAT project. It is named after Aten, the Egyptian god of the sun....
Aten (or
Aton) was the disk of the
sunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
in ancient
Egyptian mythologyAncient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over more than 3,000 years, from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity in the early centuries AD...
, and originally an aspect of
RaRA is an abbreviation or code which may refer to :Science* Right ascension, an astronomical term for one of the two coordinates of a point on the celestial sphere when using the equatorial coordinate system...
. He became the deity of the
monotheisticIn theology, monotheism is the belief that only one god exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the Platonic concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite...
— in fact,
monisticMonism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry, where this is not to be expected. Thus, some philosophers may hold that the Universe is really just one thing, despite its many appearances and diversities; or theology may support the view that there is...
—
religionA religion is a system of human thought which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity or deities, or ultimate truth...
AtenismAtenism, or the Amarna heresy, is one of the earliest known, well-documented, monotheistic religions, associated with the eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known under his adopted name, Akhenaten...
of Amenhotep IV, who took the name
AkhenatenAkhenaten was known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV . A Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, he ruled for 17 years and died in 1336 BC or 1334 BC...
. The worship of Aten seemed to stop shortly after Akhenaten's death. In his poem "Hymn to Aten," Akhenaten praises Aten as the creator, and giver of life.
Overview
Aten was the life-giving force of light. The full title of Akhenaten's god was
The Rahorus who rejoices in the horizon, in his/her Name of the Light which is seen in the sun disc. (This is the title of the god as it appears on the numerous stelae which were placed to mark the boundaries of Akhenaten's new capital at
AmarnaThe site of Amarna is located on the east bank of the Nile River in the modern Egyptian province of Minya, some 58 km south of the city of al-Minya, 312 km south of the Egyptian capital Cairo and 402 km north of Luxor...
, or "Akhetaten.") This lengthy name was often shortened to
Ra-Horus-Aten or just
Aten in many texts, but the god of Akhenaten raised to supremacy is considered a
synthesisSyncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. This may involve attempts to merge and analogise several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an...
of very ancient gods viewed in a new and different way.
Both
RaRA is an abbreviation or code which may refer to :Science* Right ascension, an astronomical term for one of the two coordinates of a point on the celestial sphere when using the equatorial coordinate system...
and
HorusHorus is one of the oldest and most significant of the deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horuses are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
characteristics are part of the god, but the god is also considered to be both masculine and feminine simultaneously. All creation was thought to emanate from the god and to exist within the god. In particular, the god was not depicted in anthropomorphic (human) form, but as rays of light extending from the sun's disk. Furthermore, the god's name came to be written within a
cartoucheIn Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh. The Ancient Egyptian word for it was...
, along with the titles normally given to a
PharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt. This was true only during the New Kingdom, specifically during the middle of...
, another break with ancient tradition.
The Aten, the sun-disk, first appears in texts dating to the
12th dynastyThe Eleventh , Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth Dynasties of ancient Egypt are often combined under the group title, Middle Kingdom.-Rulers:Known rulers, in the History of Egypt, for the Twelfth Dynasty are as follows:...
, in The Story of Sinuhe, where the deceased king is described as rising as god to the heavens and uniting
with the sun-disk, the divine body merging with its maker.
Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as
Ra-Herakhty (
Ra, who is Horus of the two horizons), is a synthesis of two other gods, both of which are attested from very early on. During the
AmarnaThe site of Amarna is located on the east bank of the Nile River in the modern Egyptian province of Minya, some 58 km south of the city of al-Minya, 312 km south of the Egyptian capital Cairo and 402 km north of Luxor...
period, this synthesis was seen as the invisible source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten, the solar disk. Thus Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually. The real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods, above all
AmunAmun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a deity in Egyptian mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt...
, and the introduction of
monotheismIn theology, monotheism is the belief that only one god exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the Platonic concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite...
by Akhenaten. The syncretism is readily apparent in the
Great Hymn to the AtenThe Great Hymn to the Aten was found in the tomb of Ay, in the rock tombs at Amarna. It is attributed to Pharaoh Akhenaten himself, and gives us a glimpse of the artistic outpouring of the Amarna period.-Hymn:...
in which Re-Herakhty,
ShuShu may refer to:*Shū ** , Japanese Kanji. Master of a Household*Shu * 蜀 , an abbreviation of Sichuan province of the People's Republic of China, as well as the following historical regimes that existed in this region:** Shu , a state during the Zhou Dynasty era** Shu Han, a kingdom during the...
and Aten are merged into the creator god. Others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten monolatry.
Royal Titulary
During the Amarna Period, the Aten was given a Royal Titulary (as he was considered to be king of all), with his names drawn in a
cartoucheIn Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name, coming into use during the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty under Pharaoh Sneferu, replacing the earlier serekh. The Ancient Egyptian word for it was...
. There were two forms of this title, the first had the names of other gods, and the second later one which was more 'singular' and referred only to the Aten himself. The early form has Re-Horakhti who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name
ShuIn Egyptian mythology, Shu is one of the primordial gods, a personification of air, one of the Ennead of Heliopolis. He was created by Atum, his father and Iusaaset, his mother in the city of Heliopolis. With his sister, Tefnut , he was the father of Nut and Geb...
which is the Aten. The later form has Re, ruler of the two horizons who rejoices in the Horizon, in his name of light which is the Aten.
Variant translations
- Because high relief and low relief illustrations of the Aten show it with a curved surface (see for example the photograph illustrating this article), the late scholar Hugh Nibley
Hugh Winder Nibley was a professor at Brigham Young University and an apologist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
insisted that a more correct translation would be globe, orb or sphere, rather than disk. The three-dimensional spherical shape of the Aten is even more evident when such reliefs are viewed in person, rather than merely in photographs.
- There is a possibility that Aten's three-dimensional spherical shape depicts an eye of Horus/Ra. In the other early monotheistic religion Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster , after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is, in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e...
the sun is called Ahura MazdaAhura Mazda is the Avestan language name for a divinity exalted by Zoroaster as the one uncreated Creator.The Zoroastrian faith is described by its adherents as Mazdayasna, the worship of Mazda. In the Avesta, "Ahura Mazda is the highest object of worship", the first and most frequently invoked...
's eye.
- These two theories are compatible with each other, since an eye is an orb.
Names from the Aten
- Akhenaten
Akhenaten was known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV . A Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, he ruled for 17 years and died in 1336 BC or 1334 BC...
: "Effective spirit of the Aten."
- Akhetaten: "Horizon of the Aten," Akhenaten's capital. The archaeological site is known as Amarna
The site of Amarna is located on the east bank of the Nile River in the modern Egyptian province of Minya, some 58 km south of the city of al-Minya, 312 km south of the Egyptian capital Cairo and 402 km north of Luxor...
.
- Ankhesenpaaten: "Her life is of the Aten."
- Beketaten
Beketaten was an Ancient Egyptian princess of the 18th dynasty. She was the youngest daughter of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his Great Royal Wife Tiye, thus the sister of Pharaoh Akhenaten....
: "Handmaid of the Aten."
- Meritaten
Meritaten also spelled Merytaten or Meryetaten was an ancient Egyptian queen of the eighteenth dynasty, who held the position of Great Royal Wife to Pharaoh Smenkhkare, who may have been a brother or son of Akhenaten...
: "Beloved of the Aten."
- Meketaten
Meketaten was the second daughter of six born to the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti. She was probably born in year 2 or 3 Akhenaten's reign...
: "Behold the Aten" or "Protected by Aten."
- Neferneferuaten
Ankhkheperure Neferneferuaten was a woman who reigned as pharaoh toward the end of the Amarna era during the Eighteenth Dynasty. The royal succession of this period is very unclear. Manetho's Epitome, an ancient historical source written in Egypt during the third century B.C., mentions a certain...
: "The most beautiful one of Aten."
- Paatenemheb: "The Aten on jubilee."
- Tutankhaten: "Living image of the Aten." Original name of Tutankhamon.
See also
- Moses
Moses was, according to biblical texts, a religious leader, lawgiver, and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Also called Moshe Rabbeinu in Hebrew Moses was, according to biblical texts, a...
- Atenism
Atenism, or the Amarna heresy, is one of the earliest known, well-documented, monotheistic religions, associated with the eighteenth dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, better known under his adopted name, Akhenaten...
- Great Hymn to the Aten
The Great Hymn to the Aten was found in the tomb of Ay, in the rock tombs at Amarna. It is attributed to Pharaoh Akhenaten himself, and gives us a glimpse of the artistic outpouring of the Amarna period.-Hymn:...
- Kefa
Kefa is the original Aramaic form of the name that appears in the Greek New Testament as "Kefas" and in the English Bible as "Cephas," or Peter. In Aramaic, Arabic and other Semitic languages, the word refers to a small green stone used for purposes of divination. Dr. Hugh Nibley suggested that the...
- Makhshava
Makhshava is a Hebrew word commonly translated as "thought." Dr. Hugh Nibley, however, maintained that "plan" is a better translation. Biblical passages in which makhshava "definitely should be" translated as "plan" include, according to Dr...
- Shiblon
According to the Book of Mormon, Shiblon was a Nephite missionary and record-keeper. He was the second son of Alma the Younger, who was the first chief judge...
- Amun
Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu , was a deity in Egyptian mythology who in the form of Amun-Ra became the focus of the most complex system of theology in Ancient Egypt...
- Pharaoh of the Exodus
The Pharaoh of the Exodus is the pharaoh who ruled over ancient Egypt at the time of the Exodus. More precisely, it is the question of who this pharaoh might have been....
- Inti
According to the Inca mythology, Inti is the sun god, as well a patron deity of Tahuantinsuyu. His exact origin is not known. The most common story says he is the son of Viracocha, the god of civilization.- Worship :...
- The spatial symbolism of the Voortrekker Monument
According to Dr Alta Steenkamp, spatial aspects of the Voortrekker Monument show similarities with the geometric order of the Volkerschlachtdenkmal in Leipzig, which harbours masonic connections...